


Birthday

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 04:49:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17217284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Jack lies about everything, and David wants answers.





	Birthday

David stopped dead in his tracks and whirled around, glaring at Jack. His mouth was set in a thin line. He forced himself to take a slow breath, to become calm.

“Why did you lie?” David wanted to sound firm, but there was a shrillness that always crept into his voice when he was annoyed, and he hated it. The way that Jack’s eyes widened, as though he didn’t know what David was talking about, only incensed David further.

“February’s the worst month, ‘cause I was born in it,” David repeated, in his best imitation of Jack’s accent and intonation. “Really Jack? Seriously?”

“You got something against the month of February?” Jack challenged, beat too late.

“You’re the one who said…”

“Look, Dave, one thing you oughta learn is that a guy can insult his own birth month, but that don’t give you the right to do it.”

“You weren’t born in February!” David burst out. “Either that, or you weren’t born on the eighth of October, which is tomorrow, and also what you said the first time I asked.”

“…I said that?”

“Yes,” David said slowly, as though he was speaking too a dull child. He almost felt like he was, because Jack looked so thoroughly bewildered. He’d pushed his cowboy hat up onto his head, a talisman against David’s anger, a small gesture that David had seen Jack do dozens of times when somebody was trying to intimidate him.

“Then don’t go round insulting February either,” Jack sounded deflated. He made to walk away, but David was quick to follow.

“You mean like you insult me every time you just make up stories?” David challenged. “Fake birthdays, fake parents, fake names…” David tried to grab Jack’s arm, but Jack elbowed him away.

“Maybe those kinds of things ain’t a priority…”

“It’s like a compulsion. The next thing I know, you’ll be telling me the sky is yellow, and why not?”

Jack turned abruptly to face David. Now it was his turn to glare, to viciously slow down his speech. “Race has been 16 for six years, on account of skipping every birthday between now and then. Nobody knows when Tumbler or Mush was born. Skittery will be eighteen soon– law says that’s too old to be adopted, so even if some rich asshole shows up in search of an orphan to leave his estate to after he dies, it ain’t gonna be Skittery. Maybe you get cakes and singing just ‘cause you was born, but for the rest of us it’s just another day.”

David stared at Jack, deliberating whether or not he should mention the chocolate cake sitting covered on his kitchen counter, just waiting for him. Maybe Jack didn’t deserve it after all.

“You’re right,” David said at last. “My mistake. You change your birthdate at whim because it doesn’t matter to you. Perfectly reasonable.”

“…You don’t sound so sure about that.”

David swallowed back his guilt. “Oh, I’m certain.”


End file.
